Logic tells me God doesn't exist but my heart says otherwise.

[Mystic]

Does your heart also tell you what god is or what it wants from you? How much do you feel justified in believing based on the hunch of your heart?

Can you rule out God being an alien, or something much, much less than omnipotent? Does the sense of God's presence give you confidence that God created the world?

My heart tells me a lot about this being. It tells me it's ultimately good, loving, all seeing,etc... But I'm not sure if it's not just from my Islamic upbringing that I'm holding on to.

[The Grand Nudger]

well I think it's natural to not want to cease to exist, regarding our own lives and lives of others. I think this fear helps avoid death for example.

It is natural, but this fear can't actually overcome the inevitability of death, which is also natural. It's probably not the best way to overcome death in the short term either (as fear often leads to precisely the thing we wish to avoid - cue the gazelle being spooked by a lion - directly into an ambush by the rest of the lions).

Perhaps, as a suggestion, you should explore why death frightens you, and work -in this life...while you have it- to overcome those things - rather than wait or wish for a god to save you? This is what I mean by getting things done when you stop looking for phantoms. When you really consider it, the phantoms are irrelevant -even if they were real. The belief offers you nothing which cannot be better addressed in it's absence.

[Mudhammam]

Your "heart" tells you that God exists because reality is scary, it's difficult; you're born in the world alone and you die alone, and in your thoughts you are also persistently alone. The only way to escape this existential loneliness is to believe in God, and it works until you realize how superficial that belief really is.

You maybe right, but in my case, it's not only that I am scared for my own sake, I think off all humans past and present who are going to crease to exist. The many children who died as children. To me, it would be tragic if God doesn't exist. That human lives don't continue after death. I guess that could be playing a huge part in my faith.

It's both a tragedy and a farce. But these are also our own projections onto the world, which as it is, is really neither tragic nor comedic, good nor bad. Rather, it simply is, and while eternal oblivion is frightening largely because we don't know what it is that we fear, it's also irrelevant to our own present moment in life, which, in perspective, truly becomes a privilege. No doubt increase in age brings about loss after loss, but you cannot avoid this.

[bennyboy]

Your "heart" tells you that God exists because reality is scary, it's difficult; you're born in the world alone and you die alone, and in your thoughts you are also persistently alone. The only way to escape this existential loneliness is to believe in God, and it works until you realize how superficial that belief really is.

You maybe right, but in my case, it's not only that I am scared for my own sake, I think off all humans past and present who are going to crease to exist. The many children who died as children. To me, it would be tragic if God doesn't exist. That human lives don't continue after death. I guess that could be playing a huge part in my faith.

I've had this problem too, in different ways.

In the end, your feelings are important-- central to who you are as a human being. It is, however, possible to fully indulge your feelings without letting them lead to irrational conclusions. It's perfectly possible to enjoy a sense of communion with God, and a feeling of spiritual satisfaction, or of a general rightness about the universe. Those feelings have real value for people, but the accuracy of their ideas about where the feelings come from have nothing to do with anything.

It should be obvious that many people, from all societies throughout history, have had experiences so mind-blowing that their lives were changed. It should be equally obvious that while their experiences are qualitatively similar, their source attributions are so radically different that they should be discarded as fictions. Let the power of an experience, and whatever lesson you get out of it, be a self-sufficient truth, IMO.

[Mystic]

I came to the realization that the problem of evil is most likely unsolvable. I struggle with it a lot. Moreover there is no logical argument or scientific evidence that leads to conclusion of a Creator that stands to reason.

But for some reason I find myself believing in God still. I feel connected to God.

Logic tells me God doesn't exist and my heart tells me God does exist.

Is God the only area for you in which your heart trumps logic? That is to say, for example, 'Logic tells me that if I steer my car into this bridge abutment, I'll suffer great personal injury but my heart says otherwise,' means it makes sense to drive into a bridge abutment?

Boru

Currently yes.

[Angrboda]

It's a quandary. Our heart or intuition helps guide us in some circumstances but it doesn't tell us the reasons why. There are certainly times it makes more sense to follow your intuition. The problem is knowing when. It's like you're at the beginning of your college career, and you have to decide on a major to pursue. Your head tells you that you should go into business, but your intuition tells you that psychology would be better for you. How do you choose between these two? If you could figure out why your intuition is telling you thus and compare that with why your head is telling you so, you could reason out the best answer. But in this and many cases that may not be possible. You may have tried to figure it out and failed, or maybe it's just not possible. So what do you do? I think in this situation (or that), you simply have to make a choice as to which voice you are going to trust and commit to that. Take a leap, either into intuition, or into reason. But I don't think there is anyway around that. You have insufficient information to make a fully rational decision, so you must rely upon your intuition to guide you to one or the other commitment, the path dictated by heart, or the path dictated by reason. There may be time to change later, but for now, I don't think there is a pat answer beyond that you must simply choose, and to hell with the consequences.

[genkaus]

Always follow your heart, and never listen to anyone else, at least if you are wrong, it will be your way of learning, where as if you listen to everyone else, you will never learn anything, except what others say, therefore its all second-hand.

Always follow your head - that way, you won't need to be wrong to learn.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Is God the only area for you in which your heart trumps logic? That is to say, for example, 'Logic tells me that if I steer my car into this bridge abutment, I'll suffer great personal injury but my heart says otherwise,' means it makes sense to drive into a bridge abutment?

Boru

Currently yes.

I find that utterly terrifying.

Boru

[Whateverist]

But sometimes conversing with others will inject needed perspective or new information. Then, as you say, it is still your job to follow through with your own deliberations and values to make a choice.

[Whateverist]

My heart tells me a lot about this being. It tells me it's ultimately good, loving, all seeing,etc... But I'm not sure if it's not just from my Islamic upbringing that I'm holding on to.

From where I'm sitting I would guess that "all seeing" is a relic of your upbringing. "Ultimately good" and "loving" I would think you could acquire a sense of if you view 'god' as something inside.

But all seeing isn't really necessary, is it? What if 'god' simply saw more than you, or even just gathered impressions you didn't pick up on consciously. Would it still be a valuable asset to you? I would be suspicious of any and all omni-adectives.